Protests in Iran and Potential Ramifications

Over the past week, there have been massive anti-government protests across Iran. The reasons for Iranians taking to the streets are (1) a weakened economy (2) government corruption, along with various other systematic issues in the country. The protests, which seem to have died down a bit due to government restriction of social media and police activity, are the largest protests since 2009.[1]

A power vacuum would be incredibly dangerous in Iran, as it would be anywhere else. While I support peacefully protesting the Iranian regime, the opposition to the government has to be careful. There needs to be thorough organization and goals to avoid chaos.

Iran is large, densely populated, and somewhat isolated from the rest of the world. They also happen to have some leverage over the world’s oil market.

A power vacuum in Iran could be an enormous problem. Imagine a similar situation to what has been happening in Syria for the past six years in Iran.

The thing that worries me about the current protests is the opposition not being prepared for the time when productive action is needed.